Hope
by Confizzledworld
Summary: Have you ever truly known what it feels like to be alone? Lost? Afraid? To have all your dreams crushed? To have everything you loved taken away from you? Well, I know what it's like. . .


**Conny:** Well, introducing an old story I wrote for a creative writing assignment in the holiest of all the classes... ENGLISH. Well...at least to me it was. Other people hated English class. Anyway, this story isnt truly fanfiction... I mean, if the characters resemble someone you know from an series, fine... but I didnt intend to do such a thing.

This was simply just a written piece I called, "Hope." I call it that because... well, how about you find out?

* * *

Opening my eyes, the world wasn't how it was supposed to be. Ash. Embers. Gray...

"Mom? Dad?" They were on, what used to be, white carpet. Covered in soot. "Mom! Dad!" I hobbled over to them, my entire body was numb. I looked to my hands, they were coated in a blanket of crimson. I resisted the urge to scream, I've always hated the sight of blood. Once I was close enough to my parents, I realized a horrible truth. Tears rained down, soaking into the gray dust. My parents were dead... Why? Why are they laying lifelessly on the ground? Mom and dad didn't deserve this. They were so young, had so much more to live for! I stood, my river of tears drying up. I let out a shaky breath, then breathe in. The smell. Sickening. "Burning... people." That's what the stench was, my stomach does a flip. I need to move, get away. I give my beloved parents one last glance, tears spring up again. "Bye... momma. Bye-bye, daddy…"

The neighbors, the annoying kid from the next street, the old couple that lived next to the church... Everyone. They're all gone.

"Why am I...?" Why am I all by myself? Isn't there another person? I started to call out to someone, anyone. I can't be alone, I can't be the only one! "Someone! Anyone!" Nothing. Just absolute silence. I can't be alone! It's impossible! I started running, I bet I could get to the next town. There has to be someone there.

I can't run. It's too depressing. The trees are simply ghosts of what they once were. The grass is not green. The buildings can't be called such. What caused this disaster? My mind started to push into my memories, but a headache strained my thoughts. No answers.

"What happened?" My hollow shout all, but died in the gentle breeze. Ash carried through, my throat seized up. I pulled my shirt collar up, I am not going to breathe in this stuff. Six inches, that's how much of it I'm walking through. Why does it only have to be me...?

The city was demolished. Skeletons of skyscrapers stood, ones that seemed so indestructible. Glass. Metal. People. All of that and more littered the streets. I had the nerve to run back home, to my dead parents. I didn't turn back, I need to look here.

"Hello?" My voice bounced off the sides of ruined buildings, other than that, no other voices. Fires burned, smokestacks rose to the bleak sky. Emptiness filled my thoughts, this is wrong. The world isn't supposed to be like what it is, now. I can't take this, it's too much! People are gone, animals have disappeared, _life_ has vanished! I sank to the ground, my knees and shins settling in a bed of glass shards. Skin tore, blood ran. I couldn't care. This world, my world... It's dead. Then why make me suffer? Why did I have to be the one that lived? I stood, carefully brushing away the glittery fragments from my legs. Ripping part of my shirt, I bandage up the openly bleeding limbs. I have to keep going.

What's the point of life? Is there really some almighty being, one that created everything? If so, why did that almighty being allow this destruction? It doesn't make much sense, at least to me. Am I putting the blame on that individual? No, not necessarily. It's just, you'd think that they'd influence things. Make a better outcome. I suppose I should try another place, everyone's dead here.

Absolutely. No one. My body is worn, but I force myself to push ahead. It just doesn't make sense! I've checked tons of places, yet there's no one. Maybe it was simply a fluke that I lived. I should probably be six inches under ash. I could join my parents in the cold stillness of death. It seems better than this lifeless world. I would be in the company of all the deceased: my family, my friends. I could take my life, quickly, painlessly. Thoughts of suicide clouded my mind: cutting my wrists, jumping off a broken building, suffocating, choking on the ash of everything fallen...

"No…" I violently shudder, the last one will not happen. I could not go down that way, I won't. I am not sure I want to cut my wrists, aren't you supposed to cut an artery, if you want to die? I just stop walking, my foot's on something. I knelt down, picking it up to see that it's a scrap metal. Sharp. I point the blade-like rubbish at my throat, I can leave this world. I can join my parents, wherever they are now. The tip grazed my skin, I throw it to the ground.

"I can't do it!" I turn on my heels, heading back to my hometown. My feet carry me on the wind, even if I'm at a loss of energy.

A forest. How did I get here? There's no way I've ran that far, I could never run far or fast. This woodlands is barren. Husks of trees, ghosts of grassy fields, remains of animals...

"This is worse than the city." An old tree falls in front of me, the poor thing couldn't stand the sight of it's own home. I couldn't either. My tracks are the only ones in the snow-like ash. It somehow reminds me of the white flakes, it's just that this is... wrong. What did cause all of this? I don't remember what happened...

"I just can't…" The more I try, the more my head hurts. It's as if I'm not allowed to remember what happened. It's not fair! I want to know what caused the death of everyone around me! No, I _need_ to know.

I have been roaming these woods for a while. I don't know the time, but it's after dark. There's no owl hoot, no cricket chirp. Just... silence. It sends shivers down my spine, I don't want to think about my solitude. But the thought of it never leaves me. Actually, it's as of it's haunting me. I can't stand it, I push forward.

I didn't sleep, I couldn't. The sun is up, but gray is still in the sky. "Raise and shine, birds," I call, hoping they would start singing. Just as I expected, no bird songs. I miss those little sparrows, even if they got annoying from time to time. Forget about the birds, I should look for people.

This isn't a forest, it's a maze graveyard of trunks. I never realized how big a place like this could be, I've only lived in town. I'm surprised I'm not tired from running, being sleep-deprived, and hungry. I should be a little lethargic, to say the least. I should call out to someone, but what's the point? If I couldn't get someone to answer me in the city, why try here? That didn't stop my voice from echoing through the woods. My hopeless plea for another to call back just comes back to me. It's hopeless, useless. There's no one else, I am the only one.

The only one. Me.

It's unfair to those who've died! I let out the loudest scream my throat's ever released, tears running down my cheeks as I do so. I have to run, I have to get away from all of this. My entire being burns with all of the sorrow trapped inside, it has to end. I have to end it. As I start formulating my death, a second time, my heart races with my feet. Can I seriously pull the plug on myself? Would I do it, even if there's the slight chance that there's more alive? I can't stop my sprints, I won't stop them.

My muscles ache, but my will to run keeps me going. Everything is still gray. The sullen sky. The dreary earth. My own self. My eyes drift to something different, something that looked too good to be real.

"Green…" I'm heading towards the wonderful color, seeing more and more. Pink. Yellow. Red. White. Purple. I stop, just outside this beautiful place. It can't be real, but as I looked back and forth between the gray and the golden, it's real. I sink to my knees, feeling the fine grass tickle my exposed skin. I pick a fragile flower, inhaling it's lovely fragrance. This place, this clearing, it's heaven on earth. It has the color the barren world outside doesn't. It has the life I was searching for. I heard footsteps, my body tensed. I turned, seeing a boy my age.

"Are you... Alone?" His voice was calm, but it had an edge of fear in it. My head bobbed up and down, my bangs getting in my eyes.

"You?" I stood, brushing off the soil embedded on my skin. He nodded, his green eyes flickered with sadness. That's what my eyes must have looked like, sad. Lonely. I took his hand, then lead him through this sanctuary.

"Where are you-" I turned to face him, a small smile on my face.

"Hope. That's what we'll call this place."

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**Conny:** This almost got me 1st place in the creative writing contest. Unfortunately, a mystery/murder story beat me. I have to admit, this wasnt the best story out there. I dont believe its the best one I've written. I believe I wrote this story as some sort of... relief effect? Emotion dumping? I dont know.

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